They've got my number...

I got called by Dial-A-Stranger (episode 63) this week. I signed up for it a while ago, and kind of forgot about it. It's a podcast that calls up "strangers" (people who voluntarily sign up) and ask them a question that a listener has submitted. They have you program their number into your phone so that when they call you, you know who it is.

They called me on Thursday night and when I saw "Dial A Stranger" come up on my caller ID the adrenaline started pumping. My TV wouldn't turn off and Fiona kept barking randomly because she knows when something is up. She could probably smell the fine film of sweat forming on my upper lip.

The male and female hosts chatted with me for a while about what I do for a living and then got to the question. My question was "Tell us about a time when someone really hurt you, and how did you resolve it?" I was a little disappointed because, and I told them this, I live a pretty quiet, non-confrontational life. But I am a good thinker so I thought of a lame time when my boss made an unethical decision and I told him so and then later I found out he almost fired me. Sadly, it's going to be pretty lame. I know I will hate the way my voice sounds and the dumb things I said: including, at one point, the joke I made about needing to "facebook" my TV...

Why I Love Rock Band

The other night we got to party with the kids. We got Rock Band for Christmas and it's made us very popular in the aunt and uncle department. We were looking forward to doing something fun, but all they wanted to do was this:



Amy and Chris don't have cable. They don't have MTV or Cartoon Network... so I want to know how they know how to do this:



...or this...



...or this...



...or this...



...or this...



...or this...



I have to say I was pleased and a little proud that these kids are somehow just gleaning "rock" from the universe... through osmosis.



Shine on you crazy diamonds.

What I Learned in Church Yesterday...

I learned what compassion looks like.

I learned that if you listen, you will be prepared ahead of time.

I learned that other people can help you make up for your own deficiencies.

I learned that we are not meant to be or do things alone.

I learned that people will keep their commitments.

I learned that service is a pure demonstration of love.

I learned that families are MEANT to be together forever.

I learned a little more how much my husband loves me.

I learned that my Heavenly Father will give me what I need, when I need it.

How do you like your eggs?

Have you ever seen a soft shelled egg?



The other day I went out to collect eggs, and I saw that sitting on the floor of the coop and had no idea what it was until I picked it up.



The membrane just inside the shell was intact, but the shell was crumbly and not yet formed. It felt weird. A lot of people have asked me if I ate it. Would you?



This is Melon, the chicken. I love our chickens. They have been a delight to raise, and it is so fun to see them pecking around the yard and garden.



This is Dandelion. He's not so charming, and you can see I have caught him mid-crow. "But it is not morning," you say. Guess what? Roosters crow all day long. And if you happen to have about 50 roosters crowing two houses down, then they crow even more trying to establish themselves as the "head rooster." Who knew? He's up for grabs. We expect that he will be tasty.

Closing Out 2008 and Celebrating 100

This is my 100th post. My first post was on November 21, 2004, so it seems fitting that I would close out 2008 with a nice round number.

This has been a very busy month to close a very busy year. For those of you who wonder why I don't write, call, or blog... here's why. This is SOME of what I did in December...

I wrapped up a GREAT semester at LDS Business College where I teach a 4 credit Space Planning class (so much fun, but it's a beast of a class for the students... and me).

I had AWESOME students this semester and I am proud of each of them. Here are their final projects:







Aren't they talented? Those are models of "green" modular housing completely designed from ground up and built by the students.

Next, I helped plan and execute the ward party for over 300 people...



Then, I made Christmas presents for some nieces and nephews and sister-in-laws...


Calvin's sweatshirt.


Ethan's sweatshirt.


Jenni's scarf.


Bunnies for everyone.


Abby posted instructions on how to make the bunnies here.

Decorated the house for Christmas...


Todd's stocking...

My stocking... the Santa dolls are courtesy of Darcy who made them for us last year. We thought they were voodoo dolls, but she assured us they were not. Mine looks like a nun in a Santa suit.

The jewelry Christmas tree and the nativity...

Spices and orange peels simmering on the stove...

Our beautiful Christmas tree... the skinnier the better. You can never be too rich and your Christmas tree can never be too thin... Isn't that what they say?

Hosted a cousin Christmas party...

We invited all of the Oscarson and Carr kids over so their parents could do some shopping or just have a date.

The kids were so great. We made a gingerbread house all together...

And then they got to eat it right up. They were thrilled.
I had this whole idea of serving spinach for dinner (along with chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes) and having them watch the movie "Popeye". I loved that movie when I was a kid, and I was sure that none of them had seen it. So all during dinner we made them try and guess the movie, and it became apparent that NONE of them even knew who Popeye was! They had never even seen a cartoon! "Oh well," we thought, "we'll stick the movie in and have some fun." But after all that build up, and the forced feeding of canned spinach (just a bite!) the DVD was cracked and we couldn't watch it anyway! Thank goodness I was a prepared aunt and had Prince Caspian on hand!

We made the family room into a pillow and blanket covered cozy den and watched the movie in our PJ's with plenty of buttery popcorn.

Next, I organized a 39th anniversary dinner for Mo & Poppa. We are so grateful for them. They have been such great parents and have been such good examples to us. They are a team. It was fun to celebrate with dinner and a little program. Our friend, Stuart Truscott, from Massachusetts was in town and came by for dessert. It fun to see him and fun to get caught up.

Then came Christmas Eve at our house. We had Grandma & Grandpa Green, Mo & Poppa, the Carrs, and the Oscarsons, so people total. We had yummy food and good company, and thankfully, we all fit!


You can see the roaring fire playing on our TV...

Then we had a nice little pagent complete with vintage angel BLING while Grandpa Green read the story of the Nativity from Luke 2.




This was the portion of the evening when we all sang Silent Night until someone hit the "Dance Beat" button on my electric piano and the evening disintegrated into discoing angels and shepherds. Amy tried to keep her composure and we just kept singing. Why fight it? It was a wonderful night of family and fun.

We opened a few presents, and the family had a surprise for me and Todd. Together, they had decided that instead of giving gifts to each other this year, they would take that money and give it to the "Baby Rhodesbud" fund. Siblings had written letters and nieces and nephews had drawn pictures. Todd and I were so overwhelmed there was nothing to do but cry. I still want to weep thinking of their sacrifice, and of the kids being willing to give up getting presents in order to bless us. We love you all so much!

Pretty soon the kids became seriously concerned about not being home when Santa came. Just as everyone was leaving we spotted a strange sight... a multi-colored flashing lighted vehicle of some sorts was descending in the night sky (we DO live close to the Provo airport...). The kids went nuts and quickly got into the cars.

Todd and I had a nice and quiet Christmas morning complete with hot chocolate and sausage rolls. We are so blessed, Todd is thoughtful, and our family is loving and generous. We used some Christmas cash and bought "RockBand 2". I came home one night after Christmas and found Todd thus...

His explanation: "I got hot." (Don't worry, he has pants on...)

Todd had the whole next week off, so we decided to finally finish our wood floor that was purchased (and has been sitting in our garage) and started last spring!

Our house went from Christmas coziness to utter chaos...

Fiona has been seriously confused. She's been confined to the upstairs, and may remain there for the rest of her natural life. She has put some awesome scratches in the floor we already laid prompting me to make her some special grippy baby socks with elastics to hold them on.. which she hates.

But is has been well worth it!

The new floor has made all the difference in the world! We are still finishing the kitchen and the mud room and then it will be over... I mean done.

We enjoyed a FUN New Year's Eve celebrating Ethan's birthday at the Oscarson home. Chip and Marie- Laure know how to throw a PAR-TAY! We had hors d'oeuvres and desserts all night as well as present opening, birthday cakes, and RockBand until 1:30am. Everyone got into the act and we all took turns singing, playing the guitars, and wailing on the drums (adults only... the kids watched a movie... miraculously!) It was a great way to ring in the new year.

What else can I say? I've been busy... What will 2009 bring for the Rhodes? We are grateful for friends and family and we hope to spend some quality time with you soon. I would like to beat my 2005 record for 56 blogs and become a regular once more, but if this year was anything like last year... we'll see.

THANKSGIVING 2008

So Todd and I went to St. George for Thanksgiving. We were thrilled to be spending the week with Kent and Chris (Todd's dad and mom), see their new house, ride the bike paths, feed the fish, play with Tyler and Brittany, see movies, play games, and hike Zion's. We did it all!


It was fun to fix Thanksgiving dinner together. Brittany had a family reunion on Thursday, so it was just the four of us. But I didn't mind, that just meant more turkey for me!





Kent and Chris provided the turkey, homemade rolls, homemade cranberry sauce and gravy, green beans with almonds, fruit salad, and creamed peas with little pearl onions. Todd helped smoke the turkey with Kent, and I made cream biscuit stuffing with roasted pecans, bacon, AND sausage (I like to do a new recipe each year for the stuffing but we couldn't decide which one to do, so I combined the two!), and garlic & herb mashed potatoes. It was a FEAST!



I could barely keep my eyes open during the meal. I was in taster's heaven. It sounds like a lot of food, but we didn't go crazy. We had plenty of left overs for the rest of the week end (I was determined to have stuffing for breakfast every day we were there!).

Afterwards, the men cleaned up the carnage. Chris and I put the food away.



We went and saw "Australia" that night and managed to put away a lot of popcorn, but it was a fun day and a fun night.

We spent the rest of the week doing fun things. Chris took Brittany and I to her favorite shops and boutiques (bad idea if you are trying to save money), and the boys got to go fishing where Todd caught himself a pretty little rainbow... trout that is.

Miraculously, an old box of Todd's Capsela toys made it through several moves and he was able to relive his days of playing with wires, fans, and simple motors. It was definitely a BOY thing.



We really enjoyed the bike path that runs by their home. They live along the Santa Clara river and there are cool parks and ponds and tennis courts and gardens right along the path. Fall was just arriving in St. George, so we enjoyed the amazing colors.



We took bread and fed the fish at the fish pond. We wanted them to have a nice Thanksgiving, too. What do you suppose fish are thankful for?



On Saturday we took the yummy turkey anb cranberry sandwiches Chris made and headed to Zions National Park. It is only 45 minutes or so away, and now that Kent had his "geezer" pass, we all went in the same car. I volunteered to sit in the way back and I will show you why... it was pure selfishness.

Here is the view out the front:



But here was my view out the back:



Our back window rolls down, so I got amazing view (all receding) and fresh air instead of being couped up with other adults.







The weather was perfect: 60 degrees or so. You didn't even have to think about whether you were hot or cold. The park was PACKED so we chose just a couple of short hikes to see some sites. First we went to weeping rock.





This is a spot in the park where water just seeps out of an overhang. It is very lush and green (and muddy) with maiden hair ferns hanging off the rocks like a hanging garden.





The colors are so amazing (red, white, gold, and black) that they inspire a lot of picture taking, so bare with me...



I liked that one above because you can see Brittany's cute baby bump! We are so excited for "Marvolo" to arrive (Tyler prenames all Rhodes in utero with very silly names... he's probably going to be named Owen once he gets here...).

I am noticing that even in this picnic picture it looks like we are alone, but there are people all around us, and from every country. It's amazing that people make trips to Zions from all over the world!



Oh, cute, outdoorsy Todd...



We hiked around a little more to work off all the feasting we had done earlier in the week.







People I love: Brittany and Tyler.



More people I love: Kent and Chris.



The man I love...



On the way back I got the hankerin' to do some handstands (we do them in yoga as energy building poses, and by jings it works. Whenever I find myself getting a little spent I feel like doing handstands and it kind of restores my energy... hmmm...)





Looking at this it's amazing that I can hoist all of that up in the air, but I can!



Until I fall over...



This is what a handstand looks like from my perspective...



Every once in a while, Todd would look back and check on my to see if I was OK in the back. You can tell by my happy face that it was a fun, happy day.



The only blight on the day was that I broke ANOTHER pair of sunglasses. It doesn't matter if I buy fancy ones or Target ones, my huge Swedish head will eventually compromise their structural integrity...



Isn't that a disconcerting picture? Let's end on the happy one...



It was a great weekend to reflect on all the things I am grateful for. I am grateful that I have such a wonderful husband, no one gets me like Todd gets me. I am grateful for his wonderful and generous parents. They are so fun to be with, and I love them. I am grateful for Todd's siblings. They are like my siblings. I am grateful for my dear parents and all my amazing siblings, their spouses, and their darling kids. I am grateful to be healthy and happy, to have so many wonderful friends who love and support me (and listen to me vent). I am grateful for a job (and Todd's job), and a home, and food on our table, and clothes in my closet, and chickens out back, and yes, I am even grateful for Fiona the dog (but only sometimes). I feel more than just lucky, I feel blessed. My Heavenly Father has given me SO much more than I actually deserve.